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Daniel Howell
Daniel James "Dan" Howell (born 11 June 1991) is a British video blogger and radio personality. He is best known for his YouTube channel Daniel Howell, which has reached over 6 million subscribers. Together with frequent collaborator Phil Lester, Dan presented Sunday night entertainment show Dan and Phil on BBC Radio 1 from January 2013 until August 2014, and since September 2014 has been a monthly host on the station's Internet Takeover slot. Early life Dan was born and raised in Wokingham, Berkshire. He has a younger brother. Before starting his YouTube channel, he worked in retail chains Focus DIY at the age of 16, and later at supermarket Asda. After attending The Forest School, Dan went to the University of Manchester in 2010 to study law, but dropped out in order to pursue video blogging as a profession. Dan has lived with best friend and fellow YouTuber Phil Lester since August 2011, and the pair moved to London together in July 2012. During a YouNow live chat with fans in August 2015, in response to a query as to whether he was a feminist, he replied "absolutely" before criticising jokes, misunderstandings and ignorance surrounding feminism. He also described the ignorance surrounding feminism as "honestly terrifying and dangerous" and commented that the way in which feminism is viewed by general society makes him "panic for the future of humanity". Career YouTube Dan uploaded his first YouTube video titled "HELLO INTERNET" on 16 October 2009. He was encouraged by "some friends", including Phil, to continually upload videos to the site. Reoccurring icons in his older videos included a "sexy endscreen dance" at the end and mention of British television host and cookbook writer Delia Smith. Icons in his current videos include "existential crisises" and the contemplation of life and death. In 2010 and 2011, Dan and Phil took part in the live, annual 24-hour internet broadcast "Stickaid" which is a fundraiser that encourages viewers to donate to the charity UNICEF. In 2012, Howell won the YouTube competition "SuperNote" run by Rhett and Link. Howell also featured in the weekly video series Becoming YouTube created by Benjamin Cook which looked at the different aspects to becoming an internet celebrity. He also wrote a blog for The Huffington Post, in which he wrote about the creative process behind making his videos. In November 2014, Howell won the Lovie Internet Video Personality of the Year, and accepted his award at the ceremony in London. Danisnotinteresting He also has a second channel, danisnotinteresting, which has over a million subscribers and 27.8 million views, as of November 2015. The Super Amazing Project Howell and Lester collaborated on a YouTube channel for My Damn Channel, entitled The Super Amazing Project, in which they investigated paranormal events. In October 2014, it was announced that as of that month, the duo would not carry on working on the project, in order to concentrate on their Radio 1 show. It was later announced that the Super Amazing Project would continue production, but hosted by different presenters, scouted by the My Damn Channel network. DanAndPhilGAMES On 12 September 2014, Phil Lester and Dan Howell posted the first video on their new gaming YouTube channel, DanandPhilGAMES. On 8 March 2015 the channel hit 1 million subscribers. It was officially the fastest growing channel on YouTube. DanAndPhilCRAFTS On 1 April 2015, Dan and Phil launched a spin-off channel, DanAndPhilCRAFTS, as an April Fools joke. It features a single video of them creating square snowflakes out of paper, with an amateur editing style and humour throughout. To the creators' surprise, the channel reached over 154,000 subscribers and 500,000 total video views in one week. On April 1, 2016, exactly one year later, a second video was released in the same style of them creating "glitter art." As of August 2015, his main YouTube channel, danisnotonfire, has 5 million subscribers and 344 million video views. BBC Radio 1 In January 2013, Dan and Phil became the presenters of BBC Radio 1's Sunday evening entertainment and request show. They had occasionally worked with the station before, producing videos for the station's YouTube channel for Edinburgh Festival Fringe and presenting two Christmas broadcasts. The show was designed to be interactive with the audience, featuring amateur music videos from listeners, challenges performed on air by the presenters and song requests. Four months after starting the show, it won the Sony Golden Headphones award. Dan and Phil presented at the Teen Awards in 2013 and 2014, as part of the BBC online coverage and their Radio 1 show. In August 2014, it was announced that the last Dan and Phil show would be broadcast on 24 August, with the duo moving to a different show on Monday nights, featuring other popular video bloggers. This new show was titled The Internet Takeover, and featured Howell along with Lester live on the first Monday of every month, before coming to an end in April 2016. TV and film Since 2014 Dan and Phil have hosted the worldwide YouTube livestream of the Brit Awards as well as making backstage videos for their channel. In 2015, Howell, along with Lester, had voice cameo appearances in the UK cinema release of Disney's movie Big Hero 6 as Technician 1 & 2. However, this version is not in the UK home release. On 2 February 2016 his BBC Three esports documentary The Supergamers aired. ''The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire'' and The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire On 26 March 2015, Howell and Lester announced they had written a book through a trailer on his channel called The Amazing Book Is Not on Fire. It was released in the UK on 8 October 2015 and worldwide on 15 October 2015, published by Ebury Press and Random House Children's Books. In relation to this, the pair embarked on a virtually sold out tour travelling around the UK during October and November 2015, named "The Amazing Tour Is Not on Fire". On 22 April 2016 they are taking the tour to the US beginning at Playlist Live in Orlando, Florida. The book topped the General Hardbacks Sunday Times Bestsellers list having sold 26,745 copies in the UK in the first week of its release. It also became a #1 New York Times Bestseller in the young adult hardcover list. Awards and nominations In 2012, Howell was voted "Hottest Lad of the Year" by readers of the web magazine Sugarscape. Sony Golden Headphones Award (2013) for Dan and Phil on BBC Radio 1: Won Teen Choice Award - Web Collaboration (2014) for The Photo Booth Challenge: Nominated Lovie Internet Video Person of the Year (2014) for Dan Howell: Won Trivia *Dan was voted Sugarscape's Hottest Lad of 2012 *Dan's hair is naturally curly, but he straightens it, as he hates his so-called 'hobbit hair' *He and his best friend Phil (AmazingPhil) are massive fans of Muse, and their favorite album by the band is 'Origin of Symmetry' *Dan is also a fan of the American rapper Kanye West *His favorite colors include black, white & gold. *One of his favorite snacks is Maltesers. *Dan once mentioned, jokingly, that his favorite onomatopoeia is "microwave". *Dan can play the piano and the drums. *Dan was ranked 5th place in the Top 10 YouTube Lifestyle Vloggers video of WatchMojo.com's "TopX" series. *If Dan were a girl, he would have been named Yazi bevcause his parents went on holiday in Kenya while his mother was pregnany and they met an oyster farmer named Yazi on a beach (who, according to his mum, cooked the best prawns ever) References